Chapter 59 59: Here We Go Again!

Rikala's body burst forward like a truck, the sharp claws crossed over her chest, as a strange solid carapace covered her mouth and nose as if to stop any interference with her breathing, and all words were now useless, a strange aura, and glow filled her body, with a graceful movement she approached.

'This woman is so big!' Alex thought, not speaking about her height but also this woman's body and power, the huge carapace also causing her to become even more bulky and rigid.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

The breath in the atmosphere almost vanished completely, its entire crowd silent at the sudden change in Rikala's movement, from a graceful and beautiful armoured woman to a running fortress on legs, each step digging into the earth as she approached Alex. Although he thought he had prepared, Alex was dazed like the crowd.

Alex tried to move back, his mind still trying to process what happened; how did that happen? He felt something press against him and turned around only for it to be knocked away by another blow of air pressure which sent him flying backwards through the wind, slamming into the arena wall; a dull pain fulling his back. The rock cracked under his weight before crumbling onto the arena floor.

As he dropped from the elevated height, Rikala's body continued to rush towards him, a strange light in her eyes.

Thud! Thud!

Her legs were so powerful, the bulking muscles visible even from this distance; with his muscles and brain awoke from his daze, Alex began to pulsate his newly awakened mana and the blood inside his body, urging his muscles to surpass themselves.

Alex felt his bones become taut as his hips lowered; he pulled his fist's to his waist, shaking slightly as he began to gather power in each fist, the sensation of his muscles reorganising and throbbing with power as his eyes narrowed, like thin slits just watching the insect girl charging towards him, smoke like breath exhaling from her nose and mouth.

Step by step, she approached.

His breath slowed, watching her in silence as the crowd began to feel dizzy and disorientated.

Woosh!

Her body slammed forward, her twin blades not used, but rather her powerful shoulder wanting to crush him into the wall; Alex talked to talk but was disappointing when all he did was stand there dazed.

Now Rikala wanted to crush him and go back to training.

Alex knew he could not rely on his defence; maybe even his speed was lower, needing to make Rikala understand that he, also, was not some bug she could crush while holding back. But this would require him to fight with everything in his head, from the muscles on his body to the brain in his skull.

Rikala couldn't tell the changes in his body or thoughts; Alex had failed to meet her expectations, his weak body breaking from her carapace.

Her biggest mistake.

Bang!

However, the moment her shoulder reached within an inch of his body, Alex lowered himself just enough to come under her guard, swiftly with all his power and force pulsating within them, he punched out with both fists aiming for two soft parts in her carapace, one between her hips and belly, only a small section, but exposed and revealing her beautiful green stomach, the other aiming towards her armpit.

Her two pairs of arms joined in this place, soft and fleshy, right under her current extended shoulder.

Both punches hit their mark, sending shockwaves throughout her body, making Rikala stumble backwards and fall, landing heavily on the ground. She lay there unmoving for a moment until she slowly got up again.

She looked at him with confusion, then delight. 'You are weak.' Those thoughts were deleted completely, and her hand lifted into the air and showed a gesture as if to say sorry; Rikala felt a surge of excitement through her body as she realised that Alex was not weak or stupid but rather just new to fighting stronger, or opponents with different visuals.

He smiled at her, showing no fear but instead confidence.

Alex began to wave his hands to her, as if to say, 'I am stronger than you think,' as he raised his hands above his head, flexing his fingers, feeling the energy flow through him, ready to explode.

'So what if I lose!' He thought, 'the only thing that matters is doing my best and crushing this woman beneath me! I want to see the colour of this green woman's blood on my hands!'

With a smile, Alex took a deep breath and charged forward.

His body surged with power; unlike when fighting the zombies, blood swelled naturally around his arms, almost as if copying the shadow mantle skill that a succubus would possess. This was what he did, his new occupation was weaker than a combat type, but this was only at the start!

Powerful steps tapping on the floor, Alex moved onto the assault, Rikala's body entering a defensive position; her weak spots taking such a heavy blow caused two of her arms and waist to feel numb, although she was powerful and could have limited only her combat stats. She loved fairness.

Thus her endurance was limited too, meaning the damage he inflicted was real, a throbbing pain spreading from her abdomen and armpit as her compound eyes watched Alex approaching.

A single punch aimed at her neck and a kick to her knee joint; the sound of bone cracking made her cringe. A second strike to her midsection, a third to her thigh, a fourth to her ribs, a fifth to her hip, a sixth to her elbow, a seventh to her wrist, an eighth to her ankle, a ninth to her heel, and a tenth to her face. All strikes hit home, leaving a trail of red across her body.

His blows were not powerful enough to knock her out or cause severe damage, yet each blow left her unable to stand straight, but she kept moving forwards.

'Why!? What's going on!' She thought in confusion.

Rikala should have blocked them; these blows were not too fast for her, yet each time her body tried to move, something stopped her, like a bundle of thread wrapped around her limbs, stopping her movements and slowing her down.

Her body seemed to be held back except for her feet; they remained strong and steady.

'How can someone be so powerful? How does he keep hitting me and stopping me from blocking?'

She tried to use her strength to break free, but nothing worked; her body became sluggish and slow.

That was when it dawned upon her that swirling red; wasn't just visual and that red magic would cover his fists as he attacked; the blood mist was invisible when he punched forward rapidly. Thus she missed when to burst out and enveloped the area he was hitting towards. Her legs remained stable; he lacked the power to cause her to lose balance with such a solid anchor.

'This woman's body is so tough... my knuckles are almost shattered each time I strike her... Damn, it feels good!'

Although only a little, her huge carapace was causing her to slow down; this fatal speed allowed him to take advantage as strange blue blood dribbled from her lip, where he caught her with the tenth blow.

"Hahaha! Good, what a good man! Let me see how far you can go! Please entertain me more!"

That last sentence was cut short as the next attack came; a hard punch to the gut, followed by a swift kick to the side of her leg, but for some reason, there was no dodge or attempt to block his attack, only a loud cracking sound that resounded through the arena, it was when you cracked a bone or egg, the moment this sound echoed through the arena it was Valuleala who was more stunned.

Valuleala was impressed by his stamina and his attacks that were precise and well-timed, but she didn't expect him to be able to continue attacking without pause; she hadn't expected him to be so resilient either.

But she was wrong about the toughness of his body because, after the first few hits, the cracks started appearing.

First on his arms, then his thighs, knees and elbows; the wounds healed instantly, but the pain was unbearable. His arms felt ripped apart; his legs and ankles felt like they had been broken multiple times over. Even his ribs hurt, but he ignored the agony and continued punching.

Each time he struck her, his body felt lighter, as though he was becoming less dense, allowing his body to float and giving him a greater range and flexibility in his movements. Each hit sent waves of intense heat through him, burning his skin like acid, numbing his nerves and forcing him to ignore it. It was painful yet exhilarating at the same time.

It wasn't easy to describe exactly how he felt, but he could sense something changing in his body.

As if the painful reflection of damage from Rikala's carapace was changing his body, but the moment he almost felt 'complete', everything changed, suddenly a gust of wind passed his ear before a bloody spluttering sounded, his right side felt lighter before a soft thud sounded on the ground beside him.

"Eh?"

The hulking mass of carapace stood tall before him, but inside, her beautiful figure, long black hair and body had vanished instantly when he blinked. Alex slowly turned around, about to raise his right arm, only to find no sensation before he looked down to see a bloody stump, oozing with a fountain of blood, across from his body behind him. Rikala vanished from his vision, or rather...

There was a goddess.

Not a goddess of beauty or anything wondrous like the old men of the past used to believe.

This woman was a feral and pagan goddess, her body squatting, the flexible joins of her body showing that this woman wasn't human.

His thoughts should change instantly, not thinking along the lines of fighting a human, as her body bent and twisted like water flowing over rocks in the river, Rikala gave him a moment to recover before her body vanished into a sudden flash of green light, the next moment, her body was before him, two sharp blades driving down towards his shoulder's attempting to disarm him completely.

'This woman is amazing!'

Blood pumped through his body, the adrenaline from losing his arm making the world seem in slow motion, all colour draining from his world, only black, white and the beautiful green of her tight and muscular body, each movement and contraction visible to his eyes.

He noticed the twinkling of her compound eyes as if each small golden dot saw a different world, sending all this huge information back to her brain.

Alex's body pushed his left shoulder forward, avoiding her slash narrowly as it sliced through the wind with a horrifying howl before slashing down, creating deep gashes in the floor; Rikala's face brightened as she lifted her head instantly, her eyes seemingly watching only him; she must be the same! Her world was only Alex, wanting to defeat and crush this male!

'Forgive me for ruining your pretty face!' He thought before pushing her head down with his remaining left hand, her body weight now a fraction of before, easily pressing her down, towards his lower body, before snapping his leg forward, bending it to rocket a ferocious knee straight to her left eye, which exploded in a shower of blood and gore.

In that instant, Alex's mind went blank, his body surging with power and speed, his fist striking her chin, knocking her off balance and smashing her against the wall, breaking several bones in her face and jaw.

Rikala looked shocked, her opponent's bleeding arm now recovering. She suffered the first flesh wound in countless battles, her eye closed due to the power of his brutal knee, and many women in the crowd felt he was too heavy-handed to a woman's face. Still, Stella was jumping and cheering in the crowd as the bone above Rikala's left eye shattered, oozing glossy blue blood and pieces of flesh.

"I-it hurts... I'm wounded?" Rikala touched her left eye, the lid unable to open, as the sticky wet sound began to paint the blue-coloured flesh onto her fingers, causing a stinging pain that began to burn with her hard fingers brushing against it.

'I lost the battle? To a newbie... A male..... his stats a mere fraction, how?'

Rikala's face was not one of anger, disbelief or shock. Instead, it was strange as she just stared at Alex with a single compound eye, the pain he caused her, like that of her father when he trained her more than 80 years ago... She was always taught that pain was affection and her father's love.

A twisted and distorted past, the failed attempt to save their world, created a broken fighting machine named Rikala.

Alex was about to proceed and continue his assault until the arena's walls suddenly lowered, and the announcer spoke about his victory.

He couldn't focus; a wet sensation came from his ear before the floor seemed to feel comfortable as Alex collapsed to the ground, each blow he struck her carapace reflecting a portion of his damage and fighting on mere passion and momentum.

Even the pain was distant now, no longer able to tell if his body was floating, prone or sitting. Alex flopped like a rag-doll as if all bones in his body were crushed into dust, only skin remaining.

Finally, his body crumbled, only to be held in a soft, slightly sticky grasp, droplets of wet sludge dripping onto his face as a strange scent filled his nose; in the distance, he could hear Stella's strange shouts and complaints before that goddesses voice sounded in his ear.

- Yandere collector increased to four.

'Ah shit... why is this strange bug woman covering my face in her blood?'